


The Raised Stage of Home Plate

by thesubtleone



Category: Blaseball (Video Game)
Genre: 'Pretty messed up we treat them like stats and characters at the same time' i say as i do that, Charleston Shoe Thieves (Blaseball Team), Gen, some light ribbing on the garages lyrics, the inherent performance of blaseball
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-23 23:34:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30063258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesubtleone/pseuds/thesubtleone
Summary: "Thief" implies an element of stealth.Richardson Games can't stop thinking about this as he wears his Shoe Thieves uniform and signs Shoe Thieves merch and reads announcements about the Shoe Thieves in the news.
Kudos: 10





	The Raised Stage of Home Plate

**Author's Note:**

> This won't necessarily be fanon compliant because I don't keep up with it and also like to not be constrained. The beauty of having such little official canon is that all fan interpretations are equally valid

He's not sure when he realized. It feels like if you asked him before he joined the Thieves he would have said "yes, of course! Of course there's an element of performance to blaseball. Why wouldn't there be?" But it didn't properly sink in until somewhere after Alstott whispering to double knot his laces, "the fans will notice otherwise. Can't be a shoe thief if you slack off on your own shoes!" and she's laughing but her smile doesn't reach her eyes.  
It must have been before Blood's obsession with The Garages' lyrics. ("'Redemption arc' mentioned in every other song! Redemption, redemption for what?! Being crummy at splorts? Do they really talk to each other that way? Like they need to earn something, be redeemed?" He took Flinch poorly at the time.) Richardson couldn't even listen at the time. He really loved Blood, but hearing someone say the things you can't hurts.  
And he doesn't want to pretend it's only the Thieves, it was just as bad on the Mills. It's just that. Well, when you're publicly calling yourselves "The Shoe Thieves" there's nothing surreptitious about it. It becomes a performance of being a public Thief. He didn't even want to think about how the Spies handled it. The idea that you were supposed to be sneaky, undercover, unnoticeable, when your name was on a roster and you were instantly recognisable was absurd. And yet they kept the act going.  
He asked Fitz once what the shadows were like. "You know when you have the headphones on, and you step up to bat? And you can't hear the crowd, and they're just outside your periphery, but you can feel them watching as you wait for the first pitch? It feels like waiting for that pitch for years."  
He's almost surprised, "that bad, huh?"  
Fitz shrugs, "Not bad, I'd say. Boring. Tiring. Lonely."

He's not sure he'd feel the same.


End file.
